Theron Sanders Sr.: Atwater should restore pay of city employees

Year after year, rank-and-file Atwater city employees suffer loss of wages. Their pay has been reduced by 10 percent for the last four years. It made sense when the city was flirting with bankruptcy, and its future was in question. However, it’s hard to swallow when the city purchases a million-dollar firetruck with a 100-foot ladder in a city with no buildings over two stories, or grants huge pay raises to a few, select senior staff or its hairbrain purchase of four-cylinder police cars.

Now Atwater is in recovery mode and our loyal, overworked employees need to be made whole. Yet when a member of the public asked why can’t employees’ pay be restored, the city manager answered: “It’s the unions.”

That answer baffles officials from AFCME, the employee’s union. They have never been consulted or voiced opposition to restoring workers pay. After all, their job is to increase benefits, not take them away. No more deception, city council; immediately restore the pay of our hard-working city employees!

This story was originally published December 5, 2016 at 12:22 PM with the headline "Theron Sanders Sr.: Atwater should restore pay of city employees."